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Amgueddfa Cymru

Amgueddfa Blog: Casglwyr a Chasgliadau

Mark Etheridge, 20Gorffennaf2015

Recently working through the John Dillwyn Llewelyn collection, I was reminded of this amazing photograph of Swansea taken in 1858. The image was taken on the 15 March 1858 at 1 o'clock with an exposure of 15 minutes. It was taken by Welsh photographer John Dillwyn Llewelyn using a ground breaking process invented by him in 1856 called the Oxymel process. This was a development of the wet collodion process and used a solution of acetic acid, water & honey to preserve images. This meant that glass negatives could be prepared in advance and exposed in the camera as required, and produced a dry plate that could be kept for days. This new process meant landscape photographers no longer needed to carry with them portable laboratories and darkroom tents.

The photograph shows Swansea taken from St. Thomas on the 15 March 1858. To the far left, above the roofline, Mumbles Head can just about be made out. In the background (slightly to the right) can be seen the North Dock with buildings around it, and sailing ships in the dock. In front of that is the railway embankment alongside the New Cut of the river Tawe. In the foreground can be seen a number of houses, including the 'White Lion Inn', and to the far right it is just about possible to make out the remains of Swansea Castle.

I thought that it would be interesting to try and identify the viewpoint from where this photograph was taken and to see how the view might have changed since 1858. I therefore contacted my colleague Andrew Deathe at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea to see if his knowledge of the area would allow him to identify the viewpoint.

Living locally Andrew was able to take this modern view in May 2015. He took the photograph by standing on the road which is in the foreground of the 1858 image, which is called Bay View, in St. Thomas. The house in the original image is just behind his viewpoint. John Dillwyn Llewelyn seemed to be standing half way between Bay View and Windmill Terrace (which wasn't built for another 20 years).

The skyline of Swansea has seen many changes over the years and it is difficult to tell that the two images are taken from the same viewpoint. However it is still possible to make out Mumbles Head to the left and part of Swansea Castle to the right. The railway embankment has been completely removed, and there is no trace or it or the tunnel today. In place of the old North Dock buildings, you can see the glass pyramid of Plantasia. The tower of St. Mary's church can't be seen unfortunately, as it is behind the BT Tower.

Rhannu

Harriet Wood, 17Gorffennaf2015

Deep beneath the ocean surface, where no sunlight can penetrate, there are areas so hot, volatile and toxic that it's hard to believe life can exist...but it does, and often in abundance. It is exactly this kind of hostile environment that one of our most recent natural history acquisitions came from, a spectacular marine snail called the 'scaly-foot gastropod', or for those of you who like Greek and Latin, Chrysomallon squamiferum Chen, Linse, Copley & Rogers, 2015 (fig. 1). It comes from depths of 2785m, living on the edge of hydrothermal vents and black smokers that reach temperatures of 300-400°C. This is certainly not your average snail...

Under armour and ready for battle

It was in 2000 that the first hydrothermal vent field was discovered in the Indian Ocean, known as Kairei field, and a year on that Woods Hole surveyed the area in the RV Knorr 162-13 and encountered this new species. It was immediately obvious that something unique had been discovered. The 'foot' of this snail, which is the fleshy soft part that snails move around on, displayed hundreds of hardened tags, almost like an armour. These tags are called sclerites; fleshy in the centre and hard on the exterior due to a layer of conchiolin (a protein secreted as a part of shell formation) covered by a layer of iron sulphide that gives it a black metallic appearance (fig. 2). The iron sulphide exists in two forms in the snail: greigite, which is highly magnetic, and pyrite, which is commonly known as fool's gold. The presence of the metallic sclerites is not totally understood but Suzuki et al. at the Extremobiosphere Research Center in Japan suggest the snail may control the mineralization of the iron sulphides for protection from crab predation or perhaps for detoxification purposes.

Completely unique is that the iron sulphide is also found in the snails' shell, so this was the first discovery of an animal with iron sulphide in its skeleton (fig. 3). Underneath the metallic exterior there is a thick but softer organic layer which covers the hard calcium carbonate shell that most marine snails have. So unusual is this triple layering in the shell, in both its chemical make-up and mechanism, that some scientists consider it to offer extensive protection and think it may be used as inspiration for man-made armour in the future.

New vent fields, new discoveries

The iron and sulphide found in the scaly-foot gastropods at the Kairei field comes from the mineral rich waters expelled from the hydrothermal vents and black smokers. Different vents do, however, have different mineral compositions. Nevertheless, it was still of great surprise when in 2009 the Solitaire field was discovered in the Indian Ocean and living on it was a different colour form of the scaly-foot gastropod; this time displaying a brown shell and cream coloured sclerites, both completely lacking the iron sulphide coating. Genetic testing by Nakamura et al. at the Precambrian Ecosystem Laboratory in Japan confirmed in 2012 that they are the same species and also that the sclerites of the iron-lacking form were in fact mechanically stronger. Then, in 2011, yet another population of the black scaly-foot gastropod was found in great abundance at the Longqi field, another new discovery for the Indian Ocean, and this is where the two specimens deposited at this museum came from. Figure 4 shows snails from the three different vent populations.

The heart of a dragon

The external features of this snail are certainly spectacular and strange, but taking a look inside shows that the theme continues there. It is of no surprise that this snail has special adaptations to live in such a toxic and harsh environment; survival in such a place certainly requires an evolutionary helping hand. Similarly to other species living on black smokers and close to vent effluents it has evolved a symbiotic relationship with bacteria living inside its body. These bacteria supply the snail with most of its nutrition and to accommodate them the snail has developed a massive oesophageal gland, taking up over 9% of its body mass! In turn the snail needs to keep the bacteria alive and so has also developed a huge circulatory system, including a supersized heart, to supply the oesophageal gland with enough oxygen. It's a win-win situation, or perhaps a deal made in Hell!

What's in a name?

Although it was discovered 14 years ago it is only this year that the scaly-foot gastropod was officially christened Chrysomallon squamiferum by Chong Chen of Oxford University and his associates. This snail is so different to any others known that Chen et al. needed to describe a new genus to put this new species in. The genus name Chrysomallon means 'golden fleece', giving reference to the metallic coating often containing fool's gold. The species name squamiferum means 'scale-bearing', making obvious reference to the sclerites covering the foot of the snail. The process of describing new species also means that a specimen (holotype) or a series of specimens (holotype and paratypes) need to be selected as representatives of the species and placed in museum collections, and that is where we come in! The two specimens we have been donated are a part of this incredibly important 'type' series. They even came with a note telling us to store them in 100% alcohol as any water in the preservative would cause them to rust over time. Rusting is certainly not a conservation issue we usually have to consider with our mollusc collections!

Back at the museum

This is not the first addition of molluscs from deep sea hydrothermal vents to our collections. With resident bivalve researchers working here we already house material that has been described by our experts from such environments, in addition to other extreme marine environments. Some are from the oil seeps off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, the mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz or methane seeps off Chile. Others are from hydrothermal vents on the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge and hydrothermal springs in the Cascadia Basin of the NE Pacific. Perhaps the strangest place that one of our new species was described from was the wreck of the sunken ship Francois Vieljeux which contained organic cargo containing sacks of beans, sunflower seeds and bales of sisal twine. Over time the rotting cargo produced a sulphur rich environment that attracted animals able to exploit it, including the bivalve Spinaxinus sentosus Oliver & Holmes (fig. 5). Amazing.

When you think that only 160 years ago much of the scientific community embraced Edward Forbe's 'azoic theory', that life could not exist beyond 550m, our knowledge and understanding of the sea has really come on a very long way. Nevertheless, there will always be more waiting to be discovered.

If you want to learn more about our collections follow us on Twitter @CardiffCurator

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Rhannu

Jennifer Gallichan, 15Gorffennaf2015

Every week we tweet about molluscs on #MolluscMonday via our @CardiffCurator Twitter account. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase some of the amazing specimens in our collections at the Natural Sciences Department of National Museum Cardiff. We also talk about some of the research work we do and highlight some of the fantastic molluscs that are out there.

So why not find out what we have been tweeting about over the last few months in our latest Storify Story 'Stunning Shells'.

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Rhannu

Penny Hill, 17Mehefin2015

We would like to offer volunteers the opportunity to get involved in caring for the museum collections on open display in the historic houses. We have a huge number of objects, including items made from pottery, glass, textiles, paper, wood and leather, all of which need constant care and repair.

We plan to use traditional housekeeping techniques as well as modern conservation methods to help keep our collection looking good. No previous experience is required, all training will be provided.

New facilities are also being created for our housekeeping volunteers, providing a comfortable area to work as well as relax.

If you are interested in joining us, please follow this link to the application form and we look forward to hearing from you.This is a pilot project so even if the initial days we offer are not suitable, please still register your interest as more opportunities will arise in the future.

Rhannu

Mark Etheridge, 27Mai2015

Preserved within the collections is a Cardiff horse drawn tram. The tram was built by the Falcon Works, Loughborough in the 1880s and run by Cardiff Tramways Co. When the Cardiff Tramways Company was taken over by the City in 1902 the routes were electrified and the horse-tram was sold to the Cardiff Ladies Temperance Guild and used in the Docks as a snack-bar selling non-alcoholic beverages. About 1930 ownership passed to Mrs Elizabeth Leach of Tremorfa who ran it as 'Walters' Tavern' and in due course this ladies daughter, Mrs Walters, took it over. In 1955 her brother Mr Ekstrom, took it over and ran it for a further ten years until it closed in 1966. It was removed in Summer 1968.

This slide, recently accessioned into the collection, shows the tram in use as a refreshment stall at Roath Dock, Cardiff.

The tram is currently on loan to the National Tramway Museum in Crich were it is on display.

These photographs show the tram awaiting restoration in 1979, and then after restoration work was carried out by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

The final photograph shows a similar tram on Newport Road, Cardiff c.1890. It ran on the The Royal Oak - Newport Road - Pier head service.

A recent donation was this wooden board with a paper roster/list attached. The roster lists information about locomotives, winding engines, and saw mills at Dinorwic Slate Quarries. Unfortunately it is in poor condition and will need some conservation work carried out on it. The board had three headings, ‘locomotives’, ‘winding engines’ and ‘saw mills’. Under the heading ‘locomotives’ the following information is recorded: old name of locomotive; present name of locomotive; location of locomotive; works number; date; remarks e.g. firebox renewed; firebox and tubes material. The roster records information about 20 locomotives. Under the heading ‘winding engines’ the following information is recorded: place; started working; drive; circ & length of winding rope; circ & length of standing rope; remarks. The roster records information about 11 winding engines. Under the heading ‘saw mills’ the following information is recorded: place; started working; drive; no of dressing machines; no of tables; kind; diar of line shaft; revs line shaft. The roster records information about 10 saw mills.

Last year we were donated this painting by John Uzzell Edwards. It was on display at the National Waterfront Museum for a while and has just come off display to be accessioned and stored at the National Collections Centre in Nantgarw. The painting is acrylic and mixed media on canvas. It was painted on 2011 and is titled ‘Swansea Quilt’. The painting was inspired by a quilt made in Swansea by a woman who worked in the milliners department of a Swansea shop (she used fabric off-cuts from the shop).

This print shows the quilt which inspired John Uzzell Edwards.

This month we also acquired another painting. Probably gouache on board/paper it shows Merthyr Vale Colliery from Aberfan, and is dated 1902. It is signed by an artist called David John Evans. We haven’t yet been able to find anything out about him, so if anyone has any information on this artist we would love to hear from you.

The sinking of Merthyr Vale No. 1 Colliery began in 1869, and coal was first produced in 1875. Merthyr Vale Colliery No 2 was sunk some years later. In 1902 the colliery employed 3,064 men and produced 830,000 tons of coal. Reaching its peak in 1913 , when it was the largest colliery in the South Wales coalfield, manpower and output reduced over the years until the colliery eventually closed by British Coal in August 1989.

This photograph shows Merthyr Vale Colliery in 1960 showing tips on the hillside. It was the spoil from Merthyr Vale Colliery that slipped down the mountainside onto the community of Aberfan on the 21st October 1966. Engulfing Pantglass Junior School and a number of houses 144 people were killed, 116 of whom were children.